West Springfield planners recommend outlawing flashing signs

WEST SPRINGFIELD - The Planning Board is recommending that the city pass an ordinance change to ban commercial signs utilizing flashing lights as well as prohibit all light-emitting diode signs, commonly referred to as LED signs.

The recommendation is only a first step toward the adoption of the zoning amendment. The City Council ordinance and policy subcommittee also must take up the issue and report its recommendation for or against the change. Subcommittee Chairman Michael J. Finn said Monday that his committee will discuss and may vote on the issue on Wednesday.

The City Council will consider the recommendations of the two boards when it deliberates on the issue. But the council must take up the ordinance change at a public hearing, which has been scheduled for Nov. 3.

The issue of flashing signs has arisen because the current ordinance allows only flashing signs that indicate the time and temperature. Legislating content raises a First Amendment question, Planning Director Richard A. Werbiskis said.

At one point, Werbiskis suggested that West Springfield allow such signs but regulate them by setting out certain conditions, but that change is outside the scope of the amendment under consideration. Such a change would need to be considered through a future public hearing if city officials deem it advisable, he said.

Should the amendment banning all flashing signs pass, it will not affect the time and temperature sign in front of NewAlliance Bank at 1440 Westfield St. Such a sign had been in place when the site was home to a different bank. After NewAlliance Bank removed the sign, bank patrons and others who drive along Westfield Street pleaded with the bank to restore the sign, said Paul A. McCraven, NewAlliance senior vice president for community development and public relations.

Because that sign is already in place, it will be allowed to remain under the "grandfather" clause.

The other part of the ordinance change, the prohibition of LED signs, is being put forward because there are no specific standards related to measuring the brightness or effects of such lighting. They are distracting, particularly to motorists and can pose a safety risk, Werbiskis said.